We Shouldn't Hide Our Pain
by PushRightThrough
Summary: Angered by yet another argument with her family, Sabrina decides she needs to get away for a little while. She goes past the barrier and meets a certain ice spirit who helps her with her pain and burden. (Rated T for small mention of self harm)


**A/N: Okay, I honestly don't know where this one came from. It just sort of happened. I thought of how Sabrina naturally believed in all the Everafters since they all exist, and I remembered Jack Frost having a very minor role in the fairy tale 'The Snow Queen' when I was younger. Since I'm also a fan of Rise of the Guardians, I just thought about what would happen if they met, and next thing you know, this happened. I'd say it takes place during the sixth book, Tales From the Hood, the night before she decided to go 'rob the bank' and two years before the Rise of the Guardians movie. So...yeah. Enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer~ I do not own Sisters Grimm or Rise of the Guardians. :P**

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Locked away in the room she shared with her sister, Sabrina Grimm turned over on the bed. She was exhausted. After a whole day of running around and trying to gather evidence, all she had suggested is that they give up for the day and continue tomorrow. However, that just led to yet another argument about how they should never give up, especially for their family's closest friend.

All these arguments with her family always made her seem like the bad guy. And she was sick of it. She needed to get away. But where would she go?

That's when it hit her. Sabrina decided she not only needed to get away from her family, but all the Everafters as well. She needed to get out of the barrier, just for a little while. Even if that did mean Granny would probably get more mad at her. But could there possibly be more anger directed at her?

So with this spur of the moment decision in mind, she quietly crept to her parents' bedroom, which luckily was vacant at the time. At the sight of her seemingly comatose parents, though, she hesitated. They wouldn't approve of this.

However, Sabrina shook it off. She needed this. So she calmly started her countdown.

"Three," she muttered. "Two...one."

Right on cue, Mirror's more terrifying voice boomed out of the Magic Mirror propped on the chair near her parents' bed.

"WHO DARES ENTER MY SANCTUARY?!"

Sabrina rolled her eyes.

"Calm down," she said. "It's just me."

Mirror's more friendly face showed up, smiling widely at her. "Oh, Starfish," he said. "You gave me quite a fright." However, when she didn't smile back, he sensed something was wrong. "Would you like to tell me what's going on?"

Sabrina shook her head. While she normally would take him up on his offer, she didn't want to talk today. Just get away.

"I just came here for the magic carpet," she said.

"Does your grandmother know?" he asked, looking genuinely concerned. Perhaps the only person in the family who felt that way about her right now. And he wasn't even blood related!

"No," she replied truthfully. He deserved it. After all, Mirror seemed to be the only person to care right now. However, she still needed to leave. So she started pleading. "But I really need to get away. Please, Mirror. I need this. I promise I'll be really careful. Just let me go this once. I'll be back soon."

_God, I must sound like such a whiny little kid right now, _Sabrina thought.

Mirror seemed to think it over. Finally, he huffed in what seemed like annoyance and said, "Fine. Do you have the keys?"

Sabrina groaned. She didn't have them. Of course, something had to go wrong. Luckily, she noticed Uncle Jake's jacket hung over the back of the chair. Quickly, she dug through the multiple pockets until she found the keys. She handed them to Mirror quickly. She needed to leave soon. Very soon. Before someone came up and noticed her.

When Mirror returned with the keys and a red rug with quite the intricate design on it, she nearly snatched them and ran out the window to jump out. However, her common sense got the best of her, and she graciously took them.

"Thanks so much, Mirror," she said. "You're the best."

Mirror nodded and watched quietly as she made her way to the open window. Sabrina perched herself on it, and with the grace of a ballerina, she jumped down. After years of escapes from foster homes, she knew exactly how to fall out of a window up to three stories high without getting hurt. She was like a cat, always able to land on her feet.

Laying the rug out flat, she sat on it. Tugging the front edges up, she started floating, and soon, she was on her way. Steering the rug towards the Hudson River, she arrived and crossed the barrier. She was free for now. Slowly, she touched the rug down so it was the grass near the edge of the water.

Sitting Indian style on the rug, she watched the sun go down over the river. It was quite the sight. It wasn't really something she got to see every day back in the city. There, the sun simply seemed to disappear being skyscrapers. Sabrina knew she should be heading back home soon, before someone noticed she was gone, but she couldn't bring herself to leave. To go back. Besides, what danger would come to her here? None of the Scarlet Hand members could get to her- they were still trapped in town.

So she stayed. However, her peace was broken when she heard a male voice...above her?

"Beautiful view, isn't it?"

Sabrina nearly screamed when she looked up and saw what seemed to be a teenage boy floating above her head. However, nothing seemed to surprise her anymore. So she decided to observe further. He looked quite taller than her and was probably around 17-19 years old. He was wearing brown breeches and a blue hoodie that seemed to be lined with ice crystals. In his left hand was a wooden staff. His hair was as white as snow (which made her think of Snow White, for some reason), and his eyes were blue like hers. However, his eyes were more icy, yet inviting and friendly. However, they had some pain behind them as well. But the thing that made her the most curious was why he was out of the barrier. If he was from Ferryport Landing, then he wouldn't have been able to get as far as she did. So he must be from somewhere else. She had already learned that Everafters were all over the world.

"Who are you?" she said. That wasn't really subtle, but she was curious.

Sabrina's reply seemed to shock him, as he nearly seemed to fall out of the sky, but he safely touched down and knelt next to her. It was as if he hadn't been expecting an answer. His eyes grew wide, and he stared at her as if he had never seen a girl before.

"A-are you talking to me?" he said, his voice barely a whisper.

Sabrina rolled her eyes. She definitely didn't need this now. "No, I'm talking to the thin air," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Seeing as you're the only other visible person here, I'm going to go ahead and say yes, I am talking to you."

"You answered...you can hear me!" he nearly shouted, seeming really happy and excited. Then, as if he realized something else, he perked up. "Wait- 'visible person'?" You can see me, too?"

"I'm pretty darn sure I can..." Sabrina said. "I mean, I'm not mad, like _her._" She nearly spit out the last part, _her_ being Little Red Riding Hood.

"Wow..." he said. And that was it. He just stared at her, smiling like an idiot. Then all of a sudden, he leaped forward and put his hands on her shoulders, causing Sabrina to uncomfortably jump back.

"Um..." she said, stupidly. "What are you doing?"

"I need answers," he said. "What makes you believe in me?"

"What are you talking about?" she said, pushing him off of her. "Besides, you never even told me who you are!"

The youth's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. He seemed deep in thought.

"How can you not know who I am, thus making you unable to believe in me, yet be able to see me?" he asked her.

"There's nothing I don't believe in anymore," she said. And then, just like that, Sabrina started to cry. And everything came out. It was like...word vomit. She told this strange person everything. About her parents' disappearance. About all the foster homes. About coming to live with Granny. About the Everafters, the Scarlet Hand, and every case they had up to date. She told him how her life turned upside down.

And though he just met her, and even though he still had yet to learn her name, he listened. He knew pain. He knew abandonment. He knew anger. He knew that feeling, the one where you want to be recognized, but you can't. Once or twice, he outstretched his hand to take hers, to give her a comforting squeeze, but thought better of it. Besides, he would only make her cold.

As her tale came to an end, Sabrina's shoulders shook with sobs. The youth didn't really know what to do in this situation. Years of being alone didn't really give him opportunities to socialize. So he sat there looking at her, feeling sadness for her.

"I'm so sorry," he finally said. "I'm not like...the _others_...but I still care. I still feel the need to protect you, and somehow find a way to give you happiness. But I feel like I can't. This is your war."

She laughed. But it wasn't a happy laugh. It was a cold, broken laugh.

"Why are you apologizing?" she said, wiping away tears. However, that broken look was still on that face behind that shattered smile. "You didn't kidnap my parents. You didn't cause any of this. You...whoever you are..."

"I guess we never introduced ourselves properly," he said. "I'm Jack Frost."

"The snow spirit?" she asked. Jack nodded. "I'm Sabrina Grimm, and I pretty much already told you who I am."

Jack looked at her, hunched over, arms around her knees. "Yeah, you did."

"You were wondering what made me believe in you," she said to him, moving slightly closer. "Why?"

"I can't be seen if I'm not believed in," he said. "That's my nature. I learned a while ago that if I'm not believed in by a person, they'll just pass right through me. The reason you believe in me is because I guess I can be qualified as part-Everafter. I mean, you said you believed in all of them, right? You know they exist? I used to guard the castle of a queen after she captured me while I was passing through her terrain. Her subjects called her the Snow Queen. She was beautiful, but icy and cruel. Her 'snow bees' traveled with my normal snowflakes. At first I was against it, but she threatened to torture me. I couldn't let that happen, so I went along with it. She once kidnapped a young boy by the name of Kai. He was later rescued by his friend Gerda. When I found out about this occurrence, though, I immediately left the castle. I couldn't help someone who was evil and hurt children."

"I remember reading that story," Sabrina said. "I found it in one of the many books Granny has. But what do you mean by part-Everafter? What else are you?"

"I don't know," he said honestly. "All I remember is...darkness. Then, the moon pulled me up from a lake. I think I had drowned in there, but its gravitational pull just made me come out. And then, I was alive. I've never aged since. I don't really need food or drinks. I don't get sick. But I can get hurt. And if I get hurt badly enough, I can probably die. The thing is, I know there are others like me: Santa Claus, or North, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the Sandman. They're called the 'Guardians'." He said their names and group name with spite. "They say they're there to protect the children of the world, but all they really ever do is bribe kids into believing in them with gifts and money and Easter eggs with chocolate and good dreams! And I get left behind. Nobody believes in me. Nobody remembers poor, old Jack. I tried, I honestly did, to get them to notice me. Not just 'them' being the egoistic Guardians, but the children, too! I give them snow days so they don't have school, enchanted snowballs to make them have fun, the right amount of snow on a hill to sled down, and so on! But I never get any appreciation from anyone. I have nothing left to me. I never even found out who I was, and if I had a family. Maybe that's why I listened to you. You were the first person you believed in me, and you knew exactly how I felt."

Sabrina looked at the broken boy. Then she went over and hugged him briefly. He was cold to the touch, but she went past that.

"Pain hurts," was all she said. "But I guess the only reason we feel pain is because we care."

"I wish I didn't care," he said.

"I wish for that, too," Sabrina said. "If I didn't care so much, I could have ran away a long time ago. Maybe found a nice family to adopt me. Or just come find you."

"And if I didn't care," Jack said. "There wouldn't be any scars on my arms right now."

Sabrina's eyes widened at his statement, and Jack noticed.

"Don't worry, I wasn't proud of it," he said. "I never will be. That's why I stopped."

Sabrina nodded, but she couldn't stop her eyes from traveling to his wrists.

"We shouldn't hide our pain," Jack said after a comfortable silence. "If we do, we're just showing we're afraid to feel, which is just what the world wants. Which is exactly what will make us lose."

"How old are you?" she asked him quite suddenly. "You seem wise beyond your years."

"I think...318 years old?" He said it more like a question, but Sabrina couldn't blame him. Jack knew nothing about who he was before.

They sat there in comfortable silence after that, just looking at the stars. It had grown very dark by now, but Sabrina had nothing to fear, as she was with Jack who seemed to radiate power. She could just feel it. If she had something to fear, it would be Granny's wrath when she got back.

"I wonder," she said. "If they've even noticed I'm gone, yet."

"I'm sure they did," Jack said. "It sounds like your family loves you very much, even if they don't particularly like you at the moment. They must be worried sick. Don't you think it's time you went back?"

"And leave you?" Sabrina said. "Never."

"I can come with you," Jack said. "And I can always come back to visit."

"NO!" Sabrina shouted. "You said that you're part-Everafter! Maybe if you come in, you'll get trapped with everyone else. I can't do that to you."

"Then how can I see you again?" he asked. "I can't just forget about you. You're the first person who ever believed in me."

"I'll come meet you here," she said. "I don't know when, but I can check our Magic Mirror. If you can come, just show up. I'll check the Mirror each night. If you're here, I'll try my best to come."

"Right here?" Jack asked.

"Right here," she said with a smile.

She leaned in to hug the person who had become like her older brother in just a couple of hours, but stopped when she heard a voice.

"What was that?" she said.

"SABRINA!" the voice yelled again.

"They're looking for you," Jack said. "They miss you, and they're worried. Go to your family, Sabrina."

Sabrina sighed, and stood up. Then, she got on the carpet and started flying up. Jack flew with her until they reached the barrier. She looked at Jack and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for everything," she muttered.

"No problem," he said, giving her one last hug.

Then she entered the barrier. Turning back, she saw that Jack was already on his way back to his...home. His figure was illuminated by the moonlight, and soon, she couldn't even see him anymore.

"SABRINA!" someone called out again. It was Puck's voice. Looks like the bugger actually did care.

Sabrina turned around, fighting back her tears. She had cried enough for one night. It was time she faced her family, and showed them her pain. Showed them that she hadn't hidden it, done what the world wanted, and she hadn't lost. Maybe, just maybe, then they would understand where she was coming from.

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**A/N: So, what did you think? I felt like the middle was a bit rushed, but I honestly didn't know what else to write.**

**Please favorite, follow, and review!**


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